Palestine- Thousands of worshipers participate in Bethlehem mass

(MENAFN - Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Thousands of Christian worshipers from all around the world, as well as various Palestinian areas arrived here on Sunday to take part in a mass, conducted by Pope Francis I at Manger Square.

Following the mass, Pope Francis met with five Palestinian families whose relatives were either killed, deported, disabled, or detained, during which they expressed their suffering due to Israeli occupation.

The Pope also met with a number of Christian Palestinian figures, who handed him a letter showing pains and sufferings of Palestinians, urging him to intervene in order to end the Israeli occupation and establish an independent, peaceful, and stable Palestinian state similar to any free country in the world.

Moreover, Mayor of Bethlehem Vieira Baboon presented the Pope with the city's traditional lamp, lit by an olive oil. It represents Bethlehem's sacred light, and expresses the Palestinian suffering.

Prior to the mass, Pope Francis stopped by the separation wall surrounding Aida refugee camp, 2 kilometers north of Bethlehem, where he received a letter handed to him by Palestinian children of the camp.

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